Suspects in Khashoggi Case Had Ties to Saudi Crown Prince

ISTANBUL — One of the suspects recognized by Turkey within the disappearance of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was a frequent companion of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — seen disembarking from airplanes with him in Paris and Madrid and photographed standing guard throughout his visits this 12 months to Houston, Boston and the United Nations.

Three others are linked by witnesses and different data to the Saudi crown prince’s safety element.

A fifth is a forensic physician who holds senior positions within the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical institution, a determine of such stature that he may very well be directed solely by a high-ranking Saudi authority.

If, because the Turkish authorities say, these males had been current on the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul the place Mr. Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2, they may present a direct hyperlink between what occurred and Prince Mohammed. That would undercut any suggestion that Mr. Khashoggi died in a rogue operation unsanctioned by the crown prince. Their connection to him may additionally make it tougher for the White House and Congress to simply accept such an evidence.

How a lot blame for Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance or dying settles on the 33-year-old crown prince has develop into a decisive think about his standing within the eyes of the West and throughout the royal household.

The prince has offered himself as a reformer intent on opening up the dominion’s economic system and tradition, and has used that picture to attempt to affect White House coverage within the area and to woo Western buyers to assist diversify the Saudi economic system.

But the worldwide revulsion on the reported assassination and mutilation of a single newspaper columnist — Mr. Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post — has already sullied that picture excess of earlier missteps by the crown prince, from miring his nation in a catastrophic warfare in Yemen to kidnapping the prime minister of Lebanon.

Traveling with the Crown Prince

Turkish officers launched a photograph of Maher Abdulaziz

Mutreb on the Istanbul airport, left, naming him as half

of a workforce of Saudi brokers who assassinated Jamal Khashoggi.

He stood guard subsequent to the crown prince throughout visits this 12 months to Spain, France and the U.S.

Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Madrid, April 2018

Emilio Naranjo/EPA, by way of Shutterstock

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb

Paris, April 2018

AFP by way of Youtube

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb

Boston, April 2018

Anadolu Agency, by way of Getty

Traveling with the

Crown Prince

Turkish officers launched a photograph of Maher

Abdulaziz Mutreb on the Istanbul airport, left, saying he was a part of a gaggle of Saudis who participated within the killing of Jamal

Khashoggi.

He stood guard subsequent to the crown prince throughout visits this 12 months to Spain, France and the U.S.

Maher Mutreb

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Madrid, April 2018

Emilio Naranjo/EPA, by way of Shutterstock

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Maher Mutreb

Paris, April 2018

AFP by way of Youtube

Maher Mutreb

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Boston, April 2018

Anadolu Agency, by way of Getty

Traveling with the

Crown Prince

Turkish officers launched a photograph of Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb on the Istanbul airport, left, saying he was a part of a gaggle of Saudis who participated within the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

He stood guard subsequent to the crown prince throughout visits this 12 months to Spain, France and the U.S.

Maher Mutreb

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Madrid, April 2018

Emilio Naranjo/EPA, by way of Shutterstock

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Maher Mutreb

Paris, April 2018

AFP by way of Youtube

Maher Mutreb

Saudi crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman

Boston, April 2018

Anadolu Agency, by way of Getty

By Anjali Singhvi

The crown prince and his father, King Salman, have denied any information of Mr. Khashoggi’s whereabouts, repeatedly asserting that he left the consulate freely. Saudi officers didn’t reply to requests for remark for this text.

But in the previous couple of days, as main American companies and media corporations have withdrawn from a marquee funding convention in Riyadh, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia seem to have been trying to find a face-saving manner out.

The royal court docket was anticipated to acknowledge for the primary time that Mr. Khashoggi was killed within the consulate, and accountable a rogue operation performed with out the direct information of the crown prince, based on an individual conversant in the Saudi plans. The Saudis, this particular person mentioned, will maintain accountable an intelligence official who obtained approval from the crown prince to seize and interrogate Mr. Khashoggi however ended up killing him as an alternative.

On Monday, after talking with King Salman, President Trump floated the chance that Mr. Khashoggi was the sufferer of “rogue killers.”

But such explanations would run up in opposition to a number of hard-to-explain obstacles.

The suspects’ positions within the Saudi authorities and the hyperlinks of a number of to the crown prince may make it tougher to absolve him of duty. And the presence of a forensic physician who focuses on autopsies suggests the operation could have had a deadly intent from the beginning.

Turkish officers have mentioned they possess proof workforce of 15 Saudi brokers flew into Istanbul on Oct. 2, assassinated Mr. Khashoggi, dismembered his physique with a bone noticed they’d introduced for the aim, and flew out the identical day. They mentioned Mr. Khashoggi was killed inside two hours of his arrival on the consulate. That would hardly have allowed time for an interrogation to go awry.

Turkish officers, talking on the situation of anonymity to debate confidential intelligence, have mentioned that each one 15 suspects are Saudi safety officers, intelligence brokers or authorities staff.

Records present that two non-public jets chartered by a Saudi firm with shut ties to the Saudi crown prince and Interior Ministry arrived and left Istanbul on the day of Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance. Turkish officers have mentioned a number of the 15 suspects arrived and left on these jets.

The New York Times has confirmed independently that at the least 9 of the 15 labored for the Saudi safety providers, navy or different authorities ministries.

The Times gathered extra details about the suspects utilizing facial recognition software program, publicly out there data, social media profiles, a database of Saudi cellphone numbers, Saudi information studies, leaked Saudi authorities paperwork and in some instances the accounts of witnesses in Saudi Arabia and nations the crown prince has visited.

A nonetheless from a security-camera video reveals a jet that Turkish authorities say carried a number of the Saudi brokers concerned within the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.CreditSabah, by way of Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

One suspect, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was a diplomat assigned to the Saudi Embassy in London in 2007, based on a British diplomatic roster. He has additionally traveled extensively with the crown prince, maybe as a bodyguard.

Mr. Mutreb was photographed rising from airplanes with Prince Mohammed on latest journeys to Madrid and Paris. He was additionally photographed in Houston, Boston and the United Nations throughout the crown prince’s visits there, typically glowering as he surveyed a crowd.

A French skilled who has labored with the Saudi royal household recognized a second suspect, Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi, as a member of the safety workforce that travels with the crown prince.

A Saudi information outlet reported that somebody with the identical identify as a 3rd suspect, Thaar Ghaleb al-Harbi, was promoted final 12 months to the rank of lieutenant within the Saudi royal guard for bravery within the protection of Prince Mohammed’s palace in Jeddah.

A fourth suspect traveled with a passport bearing the identify of one other member of the royal guard, Muhammed Saad Alzahrani. A search of the identify in Menom3ay, an app well-liked in Saudi Arabia that permits customers to see the names different customers have related to sure telephone numbers, recognized him as a member of the royal guard. A guard sporting a reputation tag with that identify seems in a video from 2017 standing subsequent to Prince Mohammed.

Members of the royal guard or aides who traveled with the crown prince may need been recruited for an expedition to seize or interrogate Mr. Khashoggi, maybe led by a senior intelligence official. But the presence among the many suspects of an post-mortem skilled, Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy, means that killing may need been a part of the unique plan.

Dr. Tubaigy, who maintained a presence on a number of social media platforms, recognized himself on his Twitter account as the pinnacle of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics and held lofty positions within the kingdom’s premier medical faculty in addition to in its Interior Ministry. He studied on the University of Glasgow and in 2015 he spent three months in Australia as a visiting forensic pathologist on the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. His printed writings embrace works on dissection and cell autopsies.

Although there isn’t any public document of a relationship between him and the royal court docket, such a senior determine within the Saudi medical institution was unlikely to affix a rogue expedition organized by an underling.

Dr. Tubaigy, whose identify first appeared amongst studies of the suspects a number of days in the past, has not publicly addressed the allegations. None of the suspects may very well be reached for remark.